Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 60
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 60 and sent them back without giving them any kind of assurance. As the cause of their indignation and anger continued to mount and their polytheism continued to be condemned in the Holy Quran in severe terms, they came back to Abu Talib, after a brief interval, and said to him: ‘We are being castigated in ever harsher terms by Muhammad. We are described as foul, as an abomination, as the worst of mankind, as foolish and the progeny of Satan; our deities are condemned as the fuel of hell and our fathers are described as bereft of understanding. We cannot sit idle under s uch condemnation and cannot endure it any further. If you will not withdraw your guarantee of his protection, we would be left no choice but to stand up in opposition to you till one of the two parties is vanquished. ’ Abu Talib was much agitated and immedi ately sent for Muhammad. When he came, he spoke to him as follows: ‘Son of my brother, my people have been gravely provoked by thy propaganda, and are bent upon thy destruction and also of mine. Thou hast called their wise ones foolish, have dubbed their f athers as the worst of mankind, have described their honoured deities as the fuel of hell, and have castigated the people as foul and an abomination. I counsel thee, as thy well - wisher, to stop this vilification and restrain thy tongue, for I have not the strength to oppose the whole of my people. ’ The Holy Prophet realized that Abu Talib’s firmness in his support had been shaken and that he was likely to be deprived of this principal means of worldly support, but he exhibited no sign of anxiety and respond ed calmly: ‘Uncle, this is not vilification, but appropriate description of fact; this is what I have been sent to do, that is to say, to call people to the straight path by exposing their